The brick dome will be 54" diameter or 27" in radius. I had planned a 27" high dome but with the first course standing on its side that will add a bit. Yes I know its big but for parties I want to be able to roast an entire pig Filipino style, and that takes some space.

Under the brick there won't be much. I figure I'll tie the lava rock together with refractory mortar 1" thick but mixed with perlite instead of sand. A bit more insulation that way. On top of that 1" bricks on their flat sides make the oven floor as you guys commonly do and below that maybe an inch of insulating refractory mortar and under that lava and perlite. Mortared in lava rocks carry the load of the brick oven down to the foundation floor.

With 9" of insulation which is partly perlite I need to provide a solid surface on which to set the bricks of the floor. If I tried to set them directly on the uneven lava rock and fluffy perlite the floor would not be even. I figure 1" of insulating mortar is a minimum to tie it all together and support the brick floor.

Gudday lancer
I don't know why I asked that question.... When I really knew that a pig really meant A PIG not a just a 15 kg piglet .
Now you have me thinking who has built a BIG oven, only one that comes to mind is Ilwood,s phillipino build but I can't find his build thread
Regards dave

The pics one sees of the ancient ovens in Pompeii are large ovens. I wonder how they insulated thousands of years ago? Could be lava rocks I guess...and that does make sense considering what happened there.

I think it will hold together. We're building it strong anyway, like the house etc. Everything survived the quake. With the scale of the thing I have to make the free fuel work though. Also planning to be able to bank the fire really well to slow the burn.

Finally made some progress. Its been one thing after another, like someone somewhere didn't want me to make pizzas. Now, we're movin!

Now for something completely different...

"Insulate the floor" So I did. 9" of pumice which provides structural strength with perlite poured in around it. We used most of the 35 cement sacks of lava chunks (pumice) that we brought home from Camiguin Island.

Set cardboard on top of the perlite which is is light and fluffy and I didn't want to take a chance on the floor pour screwing it up.

The mold for the pour is set first time. The pour extends out 4" past the brick, then there's the 4" brick, then the oven. So the oven open space interior will start 8" inside the form, and the thickness of the pour and flat laid 2" brick higher.

Once the pour was on I realized the door was too small. Dell did a quick redo on the form and the pour continued. Since the floor is somewhat isulated by using perliite I don't really care if its too big. When I climb up there and lay out the oven I want some space to play with.

Here's the floor at the door out to its full size. Some of those metal bars will be cut, others will be part of the onion dome.

Dell is an excellent mason too.

Minus 8" remember, or 16" total. I made the pour wider than the oven to spread the weight of the brick oven load wider, to more pumice. The pumice is connected piece by piece to the poured floor at the bottom. The mix I used could not be 5 perlite to 1 portland. I figure it will get too hot. Instead its 3 perlite, 1 portland, 1 clay, 1 lime and 1/2 silicate.

So you see the floor pour on the left where the oven dome will sit God willing. On the right you see the start of the base of the onion dome and the metal bar sticking out. From there on up the onion will be refractory and the bar will be wrapped in paper and tape to give it some expansion room. Between the oven dome and the onion wall will be 12" of perlite, loose. We'll build the oven first and then the onion and then pour perlite down between them.

I have a question. I know the height of the door is 63% of the height of the interior of the oven. How wide should it be?

G'day
Good question I had to double check my old plans . They gave a lot of recommends of sizing for a 36" and 42" oven high and low dome.
Basically,all could be said to be 1/2 the diameter or an inch under for low dome.
So keep it under 27 ins and you should be right.
Regards dave

Your going to need to burn a whole tree to heat that baby. As you will need a lot of coals to heat that there floor. I'd rather make smaller pizzas and more variation than one massive 2' pizza. Personally i'm finding 10" the perfect size.

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